Halls of Justice

Trading firm Schottenfeld Group and the Securities and Exchange Commission have implored a federal judge to approve the former’s settlement of the latter’s charges related to the Galleon Group insider-trading scandal.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle imposed the sentenced in St. Paul, Minn., federal court, four months after the 52-year-old was convicted of 20 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Prosecutors had sought 335 years for Petters, noting that “there are only a handful of fraud schemes that are even comparable in the history of the United States.” Petters’ own lawyers suggested four-to-12 years would be more appropriate.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who is overseeing the civil trial of Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam, yesterday withheld his approval from a settlement agreement between the New York trading firm and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The judge said he “requires further information” before granting his acquiesce, giving the two sides a week to come up with it.

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